Xcom 1999
by Trueblades
Summary: Xcom(Enemy unknown) The governments of the world must recruit anyone they can to keep the world from being destroyed.
1. Default Chapter

Prolog  
  
Another one went off in the distance. Stumbling and swearing, the last of those who could, climbed the ramp on to the plane. Some carried wounded, some were wounded themselves. There was another bright flash and a building in front to the ramp collapsed. Two men standing at the end of the ramp opened fire at enemy's that I couldn't see. I watched as the ramp slowly pulled itself up, and as the used shells, of the massive chain guns on of those men was holding, littered the floor. Liquid green Fire found its way in, to the now closed ramp way, at the last second. On of the men fell over screaming and clutching the new stump that was once his arm. The other fellow, the on with the chain gun, wasn't as lucky... not even his shoes survived the plasma blast. As the ships engines started, I looked around. That made 7, 7 dead on that last mission, and 3 more badly wounded, like the whimpering man in the corner. Only 4 of us got away with scrapes and bruised. We thought it wound have been easy, but we lacked focus and motivation. Surprising where one finds motivation. Revenge is probably what will drive the 4 of us back on to those battle fields yet to come. Revenge will get us killed, but it will be worth it as long as we win in the end.  
It had been a month, just a month. Yet, that one month seemed liked 20 years to me. My Name is Benjamin Robinson; I'm the leader of the mercenary team "Frozen Blades". For the last month we have gotten more work then the last 2 years. It funny actually, at first everyone thought it was a joke. I remember laughing at the news report; I thought someone had bribed the anchor man. We all laughed at first. That ended quickly. Before I tell my story, let me tell about my 5 person team; First there is me, then there is Sam Robinson, he is my younger brother, he is a great shot, I've only seen him miss twice, he and I started this group. He is more of a co-leader then a member. Andrew Tucker, a great friend and companion. He fought the longest and hardest out of anyone I ever knew. Then there was Kerri Conroy, she was married for 5 years before all this started, but she never changed her name. She would do what ever it takes for two reasons; on she thinks it's the right thing, and two she will never back now if she wants something. Last of all was Nik Holm, He was our weapon expert and supply "gatherer". If you needed it he could find it.  
We had all been doing mercenary work together for about 9 years, we used to have other members, such as, Alison spokes, Shawn Merkley, Devin McKilligan, Nathan Topper, Russell Boyd, Tracy Spokes, Chris Cole, AJ Gionette, and a few others but they broke off and formed their own groups or retired. So only the five of us were left when this war broke out. It's kind of funny really, after all we were mercenaries, we sold ourselves to the highest bidder during a war, and then we eliminated the opposition. But this time, not one mercenary group would work for the other side, only our side. You see I'm guessing this all started just before the turn of the century. The clock rolled over on to 1999, and bang the war started. Of course all the governments kept it a secret for 2 months. That is until Paris was destroyed. Again, I laughed when I heard it on the news, who would have thought aliens really existed, let alone want us all wiped out.  
It was March 12, 1999 when in heard the news, from I source that I could believe. I quickly called a team session. I normally only did this when we had a job offer. It took a while but they all came. Kerri and tucker showed up looking worried... I guess they were watching the news. Andrew is 5"11, slim but muscled, he has wavy blond hair. Kerri is about 5"7, slim with dyed red hair cut short. "Didn't start with out me, did you?" Sam said as he walked in. Sam is 5"9, he has dirty blonde hair. Nik came last. He is 6"2 and has light brown hair, like myself. "So, I'm here to tell you about a job unlike any we have ever taken. If you have been watching the news, the government still denies everything, but the news reported that Paris has fallen to some sort of Alien invasion." Sam Laughed at that. "If the government is saying it didn't happen that means they were whipped in the fight, which means they need help." Nik and Sam look shocked at what I was saying, Kerri looked worried, and Andrew was already planning. "We approach the government, we tell them our price, our needs and we want control, were no some private they can boss around." Again Sam laughed, but this time it was full of spite, he was not pleased but he was thinking of the money. With the government licked we could charge anything, anything at all.  
So that's how it all started, Andrew approached the officials, who were surprisingly pleased to meet us. They told us that we would be paid and that we would get the latest weaponry, armor and what ever else we picked up. They met almost every demand, except in their eyes we were all rookies, and we have to prove ourselves. That and we had to move in to their base. We had no idea what lay ahead of us, no idea at all. 


	2. The beginning

Chapter 1 The Base, and the UFO  
  
So it started, we were all moved in to a base in Detroit, we were assigned to a group out side the law, a team that belonged to all governments of the world and answered only to the highest officials. We were now members of XCOM. At first the base was pretty small, only about 7 soldiers 25 scientist, 25 engineers, and 100 support staff. How were we support to stop an alien invasion with 7 men and the 5 of us? Most of our time was spent trying to find our way around, the base was built underground with service elevators and quick drop ramps in or for our aircrafts to escape. There were to UFO interceptor and a brand new troop transport craft, a Skyranger. It could hold only 14 troops, but there were places for a lot of our stuff (weapons etc.). Once we knew our way around they gave us Weapons, all the same ones, a quick burst rifle with a powerful scope, and a semi automatic handgun. Sam and Myself were allowed to keep and carry our trademark swords. After all we were still the frozen blades. Our swords were about 3 feet long slightly curved blades that were coated in a poison that freezes the blood; they were good in a pinch. As we all wandered around we found out things, like the fact the scientist were working on some kind of laser weapons, they already found out it could be done. Imagine a gun with no need for ammo... It would make warfare so much easier. The engineers spent most of their time down in the lounge, they never had anything to do, but they did always keep the moral up, inventing small gadgets that could make anyone laugh. We found out that those little grey men actually existed. They were called Spectiods, what a stupid name. Scientist called them that because they thought they were insect based life forms. Anyway, those are the things that took out over half the original team, in Paris. Three men limped back, and the other two were severally wounded but survived and are ready to fight again It was three weeks after we arrived, when a siren sounded, Red lights filled the halls and rooms. Nik and Andrew were up in second, weapons in hand, it was about 2 o'clock in the morning. Kerri and Sam were slowly getting dressed, and yawning. I was up not as quick as Nik and Andrew, but faster then the other two. We all shared a side of these quarters. None of the scientists were here, but all the engineers were, we had to fight our way through. It took twenty minutes to cross the room. We finally got through by Andrew threatening to shoot have of them. We ran through red flooded corridors to the command room. We arrived and saw every one watching two monitors; there were two dots on the screens getting closer to each other. One was marker Interceptor, the other wasn't marked. The dots grew closer and closer, then the screen flickered and changed to sort of an overhead shot. Must be from a satellite, I thought. We saw the UFO and the Interceptor Engage in combat. Missiles flew from the interceptor, followed by round upon round of canon blasts. The UFO returned fire with some sort of energy weapon, the pilot of the interceptor reported that the front of her ship wouldn't respond. Suddenly the UFO was losing Altitude; it was crashing, for just one second, everyone in the room held their breath. When the computer suddenly flashed UFO DOWN across its screen, that held breath turned to a great cheer. But that wasn't the end. A voice filled the halls, "All XCOM Soldiers report to the Skyranger. Bring all your weapons. There is a confirmed UFO Crash. You will be briefed on the way."  
We flew down halls and tried to dodged people, sometimes only missing them at the last second. The halls abruptly ended with a quick and sudden opening, the hanger was huge, about 4 times the size of another room!! It had to be 600 meters across, 300 meters tall. The hanger crew was running back and forth, filling barrels and such stuff, one man was running to the middle of the room, to a plane. The Skyranger.... It was beautiful, sleek cold metal, boarding ramp, Highlighted gold writing, across the side. Mouth a gape, we approached the plane. Two people in black uniforms ran to the plane and hopped in to the front, they must be the pilots. The other seven soldiers appeared from the same hallway that we did. They didn't look nearly as impressed as we did; in fact they looked rather depressed. I guess having over half your team wiped out does that to you, especially when you know that your going back to do it again. We all piled in, there was enough room for two a breast if we stood up, there were seats built in to the wall to strap ourselves in, which we did quickly. We were placed in the back. It was like this; in the very back, Kerri and Nik, then Sam and Tucker, then Myself and a short American named Steven, then Carl and Kevin, then Angus and Sarah, then James the leader, and Henry in the front. As we took off and a screen built in to the back of the plane, that I never noticed before, flickered to life. A mans face appeared, He looked a little odd, he had scattered hair a crooked nose and giant smile.  
Hello, for you new people, I'm Emory. I will be brief you on your mission. It seem that a 2:28 this morning our interceptor shot down a small UFO, these normal contain 2-6 aliens, we hope that a few died in the crash. So there may be only one or two to take care of. Our Orbiter tells us that it touched down near a farm house, there are no expected survivors, if there are they will be long dead be fore you get there, ETA : 4 hours and 34 minutes. That's all". The screen flicker and died. A count down lit up above the screen, it read 4:33:37.  
  
xxx  
  
1:52:14  
The vets, of these missions were getting nervous, especially Steven. It looked like he didn't know if he wanted to throw up or to black out. James began checking his weaponry, everyone else followed his lead. Tucker and Nik were talking quietly. Sam was fast asleep, as a Soldier you get sleep were you can find it. I surveyed everyone, trying to see if anyone else was as nervous as me, after all I wanted to know who I could reply on in a pinch. I just kept thinking that these alien destroyed Paris and now we had to deal with them. How do you kill ET? The Scientists said just shoot them and they die like humans, mostly the same organs are in the same places. Although they lack a few of ours and they had a few new ones. They never said where to shoot them, or how many times, humans don't always die with the first shot, a quarter of an inch could save a life or kill someone.  
  
xxx  
  
0:22:12  
Everyone's awake now; the ship has been slowing down for about 5 minutes. My crew looks calm, the other vets look determined, everyone was fighting there own demons about fighting or making there peace with their gods. I say an ancient battle prayer, that for some reason I remember, it's a prayer to Mars the god of war, it seemed fitting somehow.  
  
xxx  
  
0:0:15  
The ship touched down and everyone stood up weapons at ready. 10....the deadly silence smothers us; everyone is lost in last minute thoughts of friends and loved ones. 5.....fear, panic, anger, desperation all theses emotions at the same time its enough to make you want to run away, but there's no where to go. 1........0.......the cabins door opens and the ramp hits the ground. This is the beginning; this is where most of us die. 


	3. Survival of the fittest

Chapter 2  
The way things go, with a gun in hand.  
  
A\N- I just want to say I love this game, and I'll continue the story till the end, but the release time of the chapters depends on the amount of reviews. By the way I finally got a real word processor, not just note pad so I can use a Spell checker (YAAHH).  
  
The ships door opens and the ramp hits the ground. It was still dark out, but the skyranger's flood lights lit up a lot of the ground around it. No words were spoken, no one even breathed, while the ramp set down. Then James yelled "We sweep in groups of 2. Who ever is beside you, is depending on you to know that their life and your life is on the line. Your only hope of survival is to work together. So take care of them, and don't get yourself killed". I looked over I was partnered with Steven. We were the Second group out. In front of us were James and Kerri. Behind us were Nik and Andrew, Sam and Nathan, Angus and Sarah, then Carl and Kevin. Carl and Kevin would stay at the ship and Keep it covered. Lucky Bastards, I don't want the job but I wish that..." My thoughts were shattered when James finally said Move out. James took two steps down the ramp, and then everyone else was covered in bits of him. Kerri dived off the ramp on the left side, using the ramp as a shield. As 2 more balls of green fire hit where she had been standing. "Sniper!! He's on the roof of the farm house!!" Kerri screamed as she fired of a few shoots in that direction. Steven paled next to be. "Ok, we'll still go in groups of two. A new group goes every 15 seconds. When it's your turn run for all your worth to...Kerri what can we use as cover?" "There's a group of trees and a hedge wall behind me. But I have no idea what else is there" she called back. "Ok that's where we going me and Steven here will secure the trees. As you arrive, help to make sure it's safe for every one. On three. ready?" Steven paled even more. "One. Two. Three!" I yelled and took off running out of the ship off the ramp and towards the hedge and trees. I didn't notice that Steve had frozen in panic and hadn't moved at all. I had more important things on my mind, like the fact that there were balls of green fire landing all around me. I rolled through the hedges and dove behind a tree. "Shit" I thought as I pulled my rifle to my chest. Steven hadn't moved a step instead he stood like a statue holding his gun, looking at the remains of James that covered the ramp. Kerri was now firing steadily at the farm house roof, screaming at him to move. For Steven it was like a fuse had blown in his brain he wanted to move but he couldn't, although he did want to move out there, All he wanted was a hole, a very deep hole to hide in, where no one would ever find him. But the 15 seconds had pasted and Nik, with Andrews help, grab him and Ran off the ship. Seconds later Steven realized if he didn't run he was going to die, but the mad panic he was feeling didn't help him. So he started to run, then he suddenly turned and ran towards the Farm house. His only thought was get to cover, get to cover. Nik and Andrew both made it to cover with no problems, and the next group was underway. "Ok, Ben here is where we are and this is our search grid" Nik said and tossed a small map to me. There were three fields, two small stables, and the farm house, with a barren area behind it. Ok You two search around here for "Our friends" and I'll go get Kerri. We'll search the House, and closest stable. Once you're done here, move in to the fields." At that moment Sam and Nathan came running in. "Angus got hit coming out, he's gone. I Sarah took off a different way." Nathan rambled. "Fine, you two go start on the far stable, then go check out these fields" I said and pointed to the map. "When your there meet up with these two and come help find that ship. My guess is that it's behind the farm house, any questions?" I stared at them, waiting for a complaint or some form of a different and better idea. "Ok then move it". I got up and started to run to Kerri. That's when I first saw one, a real, live alien. It was on the roof point some kind of gun at the ramp Kerri was behind and firing repeatedly. Kerri had stopped and was reloading, but I could see that the ramp was starting to heat up. I quickly wonder if it could it melt the ramp or something? I know Kerri was feeling the heat. I kneeled on one knee to steady my self and I aimed my rifle at the Alien sniper. I could see its huge head and overly large eyes through the scope; I could see its long fingers on its gun trying to kill Kerri. I pulled the trigger, and the rifle jumped to life. It quickly sprayed 3 bullets towards the Alien then three more, and three more. The first four missed, but the others hit. I could see the thing jerking around like some puppet that suddenly had a little kid pulling on its strings. It let out a strange screamed of pain and its grey body crossed the setting moon as it toppled off the roof. 1 to 1, was all I could think. I got up and ran over to Kerri, who was still hiding behind the now cooling ramp. "I got the sniper Kerri. It's safe" I called over to her. "We need to go secure the house" Kerri quickly got up and away from the ramp, which was still warm. She joined me in my run for the house. We found the door wide open. "That's never a good sign" Kerri muttered. I carefully looked in; the Farmer was lying dead on the floor. His dog lay dead on about half way up a set of stairs. Its blood was dripping down in to a small pool at the bottom. The place would have looked very nice in a different situation. The room had hard wood floors and a fire place with pictures across its mantle. On the mantle there were pictures of a Man with his dog, and his Wife and 2 small children. One child looked about 8 and other about 6. On the far side of the room there were 2 polished brass doors.  
They must have killed him as he went to find out what the sound of the UFO crashing was." Kerri said suddenly. Grimacing at idea of how his man was killed. "All right, Kerri, check those rooms I'll go upstairs." I quickly moved up the stairs stepping over the body of the dog, and looked around, It looked like a child's bedroom was there but there was no wall separating it from these stairs. A fearful thought crossed my mind, and I quickly looked around, but he children weren't here, bodies or otherwise. There were two beds next to a window, and outside I could see flashes of white and green lights in the fields that cut the darkness. There was another door about in the middle of the far wall. I went to it and gathered my courage then rushed in to the room. It was the Parents bedroom; there were two dressers with a night stand. There was a pull down stair case to the roof that was already down and a bed with the body of a woman in a night gown lying in it. The white bedspread was now a dark red. But that's not what had my attention. What did have it, was the Spectoid that I was now standing in front of. I was staring it right in its eyes; my look of shock was echoed across its face. Its skin was a horrible grey, and its head was twice the size of a humans. It was a lot shorter then I expected, only about 5 feet. Maybe because I was looking up, at the last one, made it seem taller. For a long second neither it nor I moved. We just looked at each other. The silence was broken only by the small whisper of gun fire in the distance. Then there was a noise down stairs, that broke our magically truce. Its disgusting body, which looked way to small for its head, suddenly jumped towards one of the dressers. I opened fire. I could hear the shoots coming from my gun, this time I held the trigger down. My vision became a black tunnel, focused on the alien. I couldn't see anything else, I just held down the trigger, and moved my hand in the direction that it was going. Then my gun ran dry. I looked at the thing that was now on the floor with about 7 holes in it. It was still moving, desperately it try to get to its gun, which rested on the dresser mere strides away. I looked in freezing panic, as it dragged itself towards the dresser, a trailing pool of light green blood behind it. Then in its dark eyes I saw the light start to slowly fade. It shuttered once, then twice, then stopped moving altogether. I tell out a breath I didn't really know I was holding, and stared at it. A sudden thump of something behind made me turn quickly, once again pulling the trigger as hard as possible, as I turned. Kerri was standing there looking shocked at me. A steady Clicking noise coming from my gun, reminding I had no ammo left in this clip. She stuttered as her mind was going over what would have happened if I still had ammo left, then said "The downstairs is clear". Without another word we left back down stairs. Then a thought hit me, one that I had lost when I went in to the master bedroom. What happened to the children?? "The door on the left is sort of a small kitchen\pantry, the one the right leads to a small sort of coat room and then to the out side, it also has a window.... the UFO is on the other side, it doesn't look that damaged. They may be able to leave soon." Just then Kerri information was interrupted by Nik, and Sam entering the House. "Ben, we've lost Nathan. Andrew is injured, but we dragged him back to the Skyranger." Sam said quietly. "We also checked the other Stable for you." Nik said as if determined to move on. "Damn, 2.5 to 2. We need points" my mind thought. "So every where behind this house is cleared? How many did were there?" "There were 3 of them, we killed them all, and there's no stone that's not upturned behind us." Sam piped in. He looked more somber then his usual self...also a little bloodier then I last saw him. "You guys Ok?" I asked. Sam looked confused then looked at himself and Nik; they both had a fair amount of red blood on them. "We're fine, it's not ours." "Ok. We need to take that ship. Sam you take point and circle left with Kerri, I'll go right with Nik. Let's go" We moved quickly and quietly through the coat room, and out side. The ship was about 10 feet height, and the whole thin looked smooth and some what shiny. Nik and I went around the ship. It seemed to be in the shape of a plus symbol or a cross. We quickly circled it. It was about 45 feet from end to end. But there didn't seem to be a door. "Where's the way in?" Nik started "Is it like the movies with those beams of light that suck you in to it?" "Start feeling for a lever or some....." Suddenly the ship started to rise. Its own lights blinked in to existence and cover us in light. It started to move, towards the house. But it was only about one level high; at this rate it would hit the house. "Get down!!!!" I screamed, as the ship smashed through the house and splinters of wood, and bits of things showered us. Then there was a blinding flash of green light. Then there was one of blue which threw all of us about 30 feet away. We looked and ship was gone.  
  
"Is everyone Ok?" Nik choked out.  
  
"I'm good" Said a male voice from behind a tree  
  
"Bumps and bruises" said a female bush that was shaking.  
  
"I'm good, let's get to the Skyranger there's nothing more we can do." We all started our trek to the Skyranger, which took us through a some what standing house with was missing its top floor then in to a field, where we all saw it. The Skyranger was half melted. There was a giant silver puddle that was the rear half of the Skyranger. 5 people were looking at it. We ran to them. It was an injured Andrew supported by Carl and Kevin, and the two other people were staring at the ruined ship. "What happened?" I called.  
"That Ship fired at us once and took off. Were lucky, we came out here because we need to make room for Andrew, to ride more comfortable, so Carl and I had just moved him out. The pilots weren't touched because they were in the front. Sarah wasn't so lucky. She had just got back and was moving things around when it happened." Kevin said.  
"Look. We're Ok, we had just called for the retrieval squad to come before the ship was totaled." said the Female pilot.  
"What do you mean retrieval squad?" Nik asked, some what sternly.  
"They come and get all the alien bodies and artifacts from a successfully cleared site." The other pilot supplied.  
"How'd you know we'd be successfully" Sam asked  
"I didn't, we just guessed, Ok. That's Ok for you isn't it!" growled the male pilot.  
"Stop it Bill, were going to be here for 4 hours I don't want to hear you arguing the whole time. I'm Jessica and this is Bill."  
"Look the retrieval squad will be here in 3 hours, they normally take a few hours to search a site. So if we start to find all that we can, we won't have to wait around as long."  
With that every one began to wander around, too tired to think they just sorted though the wreckage.  
  
xxx  
  
Steven awoke. His head was a dull throb; everything was very bright and fuzzy. There was a constant dripping noise, like water, that wasn't helping his head at all. "What the hell? Where am I?"  
  
Then his memories flooded back, James being nearly liquefied all over him. The fear as he ran. Not really knowing what was happening, just running, making it in to the house. Then out the back and straight in to......  
He blinked, the room focused. It was metal, and smooth, but it wasn't a normal metal. He tried to move his arms and legs. He was strapped to a metal table. He couldn't fight; he could move anything but his head.  
He looked to his left, there were 2 empty tables, like the one he must be on. He looked right, there were 2 children strapped to similar tables. Neither were moving the far one's table seemed to be dripping something on to the floor. He couldn't see it, but something in the pit of his gut said that the child was dead, and his number was coming up fast.  
There was a swish noise behind him. Then the sound of light foot steps. A large grey head came in to view, then another. They weren't talking but one looked like he was nodding at something the other had said. They went over to the children, looked and poked. Then soon they were at him. His breathe wouldn't come to him, nor his voice, as one of them pulled a long silver tube from its pocket, and pointed it at him. There was a purple flash of light from the tube. Then Steven's world went black. 


End file.
